Mayor's race: UMass poll puts Walsh ahead of Connolly

The Boston mayor's race is tight as it heads into the final few days with a new poll showing state Rep. Marty Walsh leading City Councilor John Connolly.

State Rep. Marty Walsh at a rally.Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki/METRO

The Boston mayor's race is getting even tighter with less than a week to go before election day.

A new poll released Wednesday by UMass Amherst puts state Rep. Marty Walsh in the lead ahead of fellow candidate City Councilor John Connolly.

Walsh has a seven point lead over Connolly - 47 percent to 40 percent - among likely Boston voters, according to the poll. Thirteen percent of likely voters remain undecided.

"No matter how you define 'likely voters,' our poll shows that Walsh has capitalized on a couple of strong weeks of campaigning to vault out in front as the clear leader in this race," said Brian Schaffner, chair of the political science department at UMass Amherst and director of the UMass Poll.

The telephone poll of 600 registered voters was conducted Oct. 22 to Oct. 26. The margin of error is 5.9 percent.

The UMass poll is a momentum change for the Walsh campaign, which has seen Connolly claim the lead in multiple earlier polls.